The island of Egghead was burning. It wasn't a normal fire, but a total technological and biological annihilation. In the sky, Pacifista laser beams pierced the clouds, and the roar of Fabri-phase explosions echoed like continuous thunder. Admiral Kizaru moved like a fleeting light, while the Gorosei, Saint Saturn, radiated an indescribable aura of death.
However, in the deepest point of the lower laboratory—in a zone Vegapunk called "Level Zero," which had been deleted from all digital maps—there was an absolute silence. A silence broken only by a faint hum coming from an ancient metal capsule, covered in layers of dust and rust dating back centuries.
Suddenly, the earth shook violently. The explosions above began to tear at the laboratory's foundations. A massive piece of steel fell onto the capsule, breaking the glass seal.
Hsssssssss...
The white cooling gas leaked out, and from the midst of the fog, a hand emerged. It wasn't the hand of a weak person, but that of a young man who looked as if time had stopped for him. Rayle opened his eyes. They weren't ordinary eyes; they were pitch black, with a purple glow at the center resembling a black hole.
"Where... where am I?" Rayle whispered in a dry voice, as if words hadn't left his throat for an eternity.
He tried to stand, but his body felt heavy. At that moment, memories flooded in like a waterfall of lava. He saw mysterious faces, heard ancient war cries, and saw a man wearing a massive straw hat walking away into the horizon, saying: "Wait for me, Rayle. The Dawn will return one day."
"Joy Boy?" Rayle uttered the name, feeling a sting in his heart.
Directly above him, the ground began to crack. The lab ceiling collapsed entirely, revealing the blood-red sky of Egghead. At that moment, Rayle felt something he had never felt before—a powerful heartbeat... a strange and rhythmic joy echoing across the island.
Thump-thump-dong... Thump-thump-dong!
"The Drums of Liberation?" Rayle's eyes widened. "Has he returned? After all this time?"
But there was no time for thought. From the rubble, a massive shadow appeared. It wasn't human. It was a Seraphim—specifically, the miniature version of Mihawk (S-Hawk). His red eyes gleamed coldly, and his blackened giant sword glowed with laser energy. The Seraphim sensed an "unauthorized element" in the restricted zone and raised his sword for a strike capable of splitting mountains.
"Danger... Destroy!" the machine spoke in its robotic voice.
The sword descended with lightning speed. Rayle was supposed to be erased from existence. But, just before the blade touched his body, something terrifying happened.
The matter surrounding Rayle began to disappear. The air, the debris, and even the light itself were sucked toward his raised hand. The sword didn't break; instead, the part that touched Rayle's aura simply... vanished as if it never existed.
The Seraphim paused for a moment, in a state of "programming error." He didn't understand how half of his solid blade disappeared without any trace of heat or pressure.
Rayle looked at his hand, where threads of purple darkness were emerging, swallowing everything. "So... this power is still with me. The Void-Void Fruit... the sin the world tried to forget."
Rayle stood amidst the ruins and looked toward the sky where Luffy (Nika) was fighting the Gorosei. He smiled a cold, mysterious smile. "The world has drowned in darkness, Joy Boy... and I will be the Void that swallows that darkness."
Suddenly, before Rayle could move a single step, a burnt "Wanted Poster" fell from the sky and landed at his feet. It was a picture of Luffy in Gear 5.
But Rayle didn't look at the picture. He looked at the person standing behind him now, who had arrived in total silence.
"Who are you? And how do you possess energy that resembles 'that man'?"
Rayle turned slowly to find himself face-to-face with someone he never expected to see... a man in a green cloak, with a sharp gaze and a familiar red tattoo on his face.
It was Monkey D. Dragon, leader of the Revolutionary Army!